


Silver Pine Tree

by lesbijane



Category: Lumberjanes
Genre: Additional feature: the Zodiacs being dumb teens because that's definitely important, Also: tackling the ever-confusing question of what even Happened to Vanessa?, Could I write established relationships? Yes. Do I choose not to? Also yes, F/F, Gen, Oh also the Diane/Hes is just a mutual crush I should mention, This started as just Diane/Hes but then it turned more into a character study for Hes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:08:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23925136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbijane/pseuds/lesbijane
Summary: The silver pine tree pin is a particular honor granted to scouts who are given the responsibility of a stand-in counselor for their own cabin. This role may be temporary, or it may last the entire summer, depending on the need. Unlike the gold pine tree of a full counselor, the silver represents a scout's connection to her cabinmates, as referenced in the poem about friendship - while counselors are maintaining their old friendships, a stand-in counselor is still forging her own with her cabin as she goes about her work. A silver pine tree is a very good sign for a scout wanting to apply to be a counselor herself when she is of age, as it shows that she already has the confidence and leadership skills to take on the role.
Relationships: Diane/Hes (Lumberjanes)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13





	Silver Pine Tree

**Author's Note:**

> Finally finished writing this! Finished writing it fully at 4AM, sorry if any bits are incoherent.
> 
> I mostly wrote this for myself, but I hope you enjoy it, too!

Hes was starting to love the feeling of early summer.

Ever since she could talk, she would practically beg her mom to let her go to Lumberjanes camp like her gran did years ago. She didn’t want to end up like her mom, who hadn’t gone camping for almost a decade by now. Hes wanted to go to camp, meet her new best friends, and go back with them every year until they all died. At the time, she thought it was a pretty solid plan.

Her mom’s excuse was simple at first. Hes wasn’t old enough to go to overnight Lumberjanes camp. Of course, it didn’t stop her from trying to explain why she should be allowed to go regardless, but the answer was still always no.

But even for the next three years she was able to attend, her Lumberjane adventures were postponed. Her gran backed up her mother’s claims, much to her dismay. She didn’t catch most of the reasons _why_ – she was too busy juggling the disappointment each time to pay attention to specifics. Something about a new camp director. Something about the transition being a big one. Something about this being a good choice.

This year, there were no excuses. There was nothing keeping her from what she fully believed was her destiny.

This year, Hes was going to Miss Qiunzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady-Types.

She almost felt jealous of the returning campers, running past everyone else to spot the friends they’d made last time. All she had was a pamphlet with a cabin name circled in sharpie – Zodiac.

She felt like she’d be the first person to arrive, but she was still disappointed when there wasn’t anyone else in the cabin yet. Nobody showed up even after she unpacked all her belongings, which made her feel nervous. Did she get the wrong assignment? Or was this the wrong cabin altogether? Would they have to last-minute shove her into a cabin who all already knew each other?

Her anxiety was cut short when someone who was struggling to carry double the amount of bags any normal person could entered. She was big, maybe a little taller than Hes – Hes noticed in particular a glint of red hair, from what she could see past the piles of travel bags.

“Hey! Is this Zodiac?” She promptly dropped her bags on one of the bunks, breathing a quick sigh of relief, “I’m Mackenzie. Oh, or you can call me ‘Kenzie if you’d like, lotsa people do.”

“I’m Hes.” Hes waved from her bunk, before pointing to the jersey Mackenzie was wearing, “Sports?”

“Yeah!” Mackenzie grinned, and unzipped one of her bags, taking out a hockey stick. “I heard that this camp has a huge variety of ‘em. I’m going to play them all before summer’s over!”

Cool. At least she’d connect with one of her cabinmates. Hes wasn’t exactly a professional athlete, but she’d play basketball or roller derby from time to time. Learning a few more couldn’t hurt.

Their other two cabinmates arrived soon enough – someone who looked like she’d just walked out of a hair dye salon on the way there, and a girl who had to practically shove her parents out the door during their goodbye.

These two were also pretty straightforward – the purple-haired girl who threw her backpack up onto a bunk, the only thing she seemed to bring to camp, was Wren. The other girl was Emily, who was already busy unpacking all her UFO books, way more than Hes thought could fit in one suitcase.

Hes tried to memorize their names again. Mackenzie Sports. Wren Goth. Emily Nerd. Matching people with words made it easier to remember who they were.

As they were just starting to have some awkward small talk, their counselor arrived. Hes could only recognize her as a counselor and not another camper because of the uniform she was wearing – everything else, from her multicolored mohawk, to all the piercings on her face, made Hes wonder how old she was.

“Alright, campers, welcome to Zodiac. I’m Vanessa.” She looked up from her clipboard, then back down. “We’ve got time for you to unpack, the intro dinner, then a campfire thing. The next few days will get you into the swing of earning badges, and we’ll do a few icebreaker activities so you can get to know each other.” She looked back up again, “Any questions.”

Mackenzie’s hand shot up. “Do we _have_ to earn badges?”

“Yes.” Vanessa waved a hand in the air, “Don’t worry, pretty much anything you do is a badge here. There’s even a badge for _breathing_. I wish I was making this up.”

 _Breathe Easy_ , Hes remembered. Whenever she felt upset that she couldn’t attend camp, she’d look over all the badges, jealous of all the scouts who were earning them already. She felt like she was behind. She’d have to fix that.

While Hes was thinking this, Vanessa was slapped on the back abruptly, almost falling over. Rosie grinned. “Hey, Valerie! Hate to interrupt, but I found a camper who signed up late. Your cabin has one open bunk, think you could keep an eye on her for me?”

Vanessa visibly twitched. “Sure. That sounds _perfect_. The more the merrier.”

“Splendid!” Rosie gave them all a quick nod, “I’ll see you all at dinner tonight, then. Get settled, get acquainted, and most of all, don’t explore the woods alone!”

When Rosie left, Hes could finally see the girl who was standing behind her – a little plain, a little tall. The most defining feature Hes could tell about her were the big earrings she was wearing.

“Alright, and you are?” Vanessa tapped her pencil on her clipboard, “Your bunk’s that one, by the way. The last one up there.”

“Diane.” Diane dragged her suitcase across the floor, its wheels making a particularly grating sound as they rolled.

“Hey, Diane!” Mackenzie already had a smile on her face. “Welcome to Zodiac!”

Diane just gave her a half-confused, half-annoyed look in return. “I’m not here to make friends.”

“Lovely. Thank you, Diane.” Vanessa was busy scratching down more details onto her clipboard.

The cabin was filled with an uncomfortable silence. Hes tried to give Diane a concerned look, or a wave, but she either didn’t see it, or didn’t care.

She couldn’t really tell what kind of name-memorizing nickname to give her. Diane Snark? Moody? Lonely? Sad?

Mean?

When Hes was a kid, she made friends with the class bully.

Everyone else was surprised, even her other friends. They said she was brave, that she did the impossible. That her new friend was a lion, and she was a ringmaster who tamed them.

At the time, this made Hes proud of herself. She was a hero, she reformed the villain. But as she got older, she felt bad thinking back about it.

This person didn’t need fixing in the first place. Whenever someone talked about something they did wrong, it was always lashing out in response to something someone else did first.

She wasn’t a good person for just treating someone with respect. Even if they never had that before.

She didn’t want Diane to be the mean kid at camp. She didn’t have to be. She was going to make sure she knew that. No matter what.

* * *

Diane didn’t sleep well that first night.

Hes wished it was something poetic, like she could just naturally tell that something was wrong. Something that pulled her to notice this. But really, the only reason was because Diane chose the bunk above hers, and it was creaky.

She didn’t say anything. They barely even knew anything about each other besides their names, and everything from the bare-bones icebreaker Vanessa made them go through.

Hes tried going through the game in her mind again. Diane’s favorite color was purple, and her favorite thing that was purple were violets. Her favorite animal was dogs. Her least favorite were scorpions. Vanessa didn’t even ask everyone what their least favorite was, Diane just said it.

She wondered what Diane’s favorite movie was. Or book, if that was the kind of person she was. Probably not something high-energy like romance or action. But probably not something as slow as mystery or historical fiction. Maybe fantasy?

She hoped that Diane would let her ask. She couldn’t just walk up to her and say, _“Hey, you look really troubled! Do you want a new best friend?”_

Because if Diane didn’t want to be friends, then Hes wouldn’t want to be friends with her, either.

Because if Diane _really_ didn’t want friends with any of them deep down, like she said, she wouldn’t be just an insecure girl. She’d be the kind of girl who was a jerk for no real reason you could figure out.

Hes hated things she couldn’t figure out.

But she felt like she could figure out Diane. She could almost catch some kind of curiosity in her body language when everyone else was talking about their favorite colors, why it was their favorite.

Maybe she was overthinking it. Hes liked to overthink things. But she thought it was better to think too much than to think too little.

Diane was quiet again. Hes hoped that she was finally able to get to sleep.

She hoped that her instincts were right, too.

* * *

Vanessa hadn’t been at the cabin for three days.

A few days into camp, Vanessa would just disappear for a few hours on end sometimes. Nobody really questioned it, she told them all that it was counselor business.

In the next few weeks, that time away from her scouts got longer, sometimes ending up with entire days of the Zodiacs fending for themselves.

Hes thought it was very un-counselorlike behavior. Diane thought it was great.

They both did agree on one thing. Normally, Vanessa would only be missing for a day at the most. Three was different. This felt wrong.

Which ended up with all the Zodiacs sitting in Rosie’s office, in mismatched chairs they had to bring in from the mess hall to fit them all in the same room.

“Don’t worry,” Rosie said. Since all she could see was the expressionless shine on Rosie’s glasses, Hes couldn’t tell if this reassurance was legitimate. “These kinds of things happen sometimes, and I’ll make sure it all gets sorted out. Until then, keep calm, do what you can, earn badges, make friends.”

Hes wished she could hide in her hoodie, the way she used to when it was still just a little too big for her, breathing in its lavender smell until she could calm down enough to go back to the real world.

But it was the right size for her now, and the lavender had faded. All she could do now was nod. “Right. Thanks, Rosie.”

Wren bit one of her fingernails. “What do you think happened to her? Will she be okay?”

“If she’s been doing this for a while, chances are she knows her way around these woods.” Rosie slid a cloth over one of her axes, polishing it so much that Hes could practically see her own reflection in it. “I’m guessing that we’ll probably have her back before the first half of summer’s over.”

“The first _half_?” Emily asked, “But that’s… that’s more than a month!”

“I don’t want to get your hopes up too high.” Rosie raised her eyebrows as she examined the axe one last time, before setting it aside on her desk, “We’ll find her, I can assure you all that. Everything else is still up in the air.”

“What if something _got_ her?” Mackenzie’s eyes were wide open, like she was a character in a horror movie, “Would we have to go home? Would they shut down the camp? What if there’s a killer out here and they’re going to go after all of us one by one-“

Diane snapped her fingers in front of Mackenzie’s face. “There isn’t a serial killer here. This is _real life_.”

“Right. Again, there won’t be any problems. There are no packs of angry hyenas, no pits of quicksand, and no serial killers.” Rosie opened one of her desk drawers. “For now, though, your cabin will need a stand-in counselor. Someone to just… act as a leader for you all temporarily, you know?”

Hes tried to sit up straighter. She could tell where this was going, everything felt like it was building up towards her, the way it always did. Like when team leaders were chosen for a group project. Or when someone asked for a volunteer to bring the metal chairs out of the auditorium. She was good at being a leader.

“Hes,” Rosie said, almost on-cue, sliding a small pin over to her, “Your grandmother is still one of the most influential members of the Grand Lodge, and I’m sure that one day, you will have just as much of an impact on the Lumberjane community.”

Hes picked up the pin. It was small and shiny, a silver pine tree. She assumed it would go on her sash – it looked like the other pins some scouts earned for special acts.

“You don’t have to take on this responsibility if you don’t want to,” Rosie said, closing the desk drawer again carefully, “It would mean putting in more effort aside from your usual camp activities.”

“No, it’s okay.” Hes spun the pin in her hand a little, “Someone has to.”

Someone had to.

None of the others really seemed like the type – Mackenzie was enthusiastic, but had a hard time focusing on anything that didn’t involve athletics. Wren slept through half the day anyways, so she wasn’t a good option. Emily was good at planning, but she never had enough follow-through to make it count.

And Diane was already resting her legs on Rosie’s desk, as if this wasn’t an important, summer-changing discussion.

“I’d be good at it,” Hes added.

“Great. I know you’ll do a good job.” Rosie clapped her hands together, “Well, then, that just about wraps this up. Would you like me to escort back to your cabin? It’s almost time for lights out.”

“No, we’ll be ok.” Hes tried to smile, “Buddy system and all. But thanks.”

“Well said!” Rosie had gotten up from her desk to open the door for the Zodiacs, “Don’t let this dampen your spirits, scouts. Treat it like another of camp’s little challenges! I know you all can pull through.”

Hes may have nodded, but she couldn’t help but feel uneasy at how chipper Rosie’s words were, compared to how glum her new friends’ faces looked.

* * *

After they returned to their cabin, everything felt so much more real.

Did she really think she could do two jobs at once? She went here to be a Lumberjane scout, not a Lumberjane counselor.

“I don’t know if I can handle this,” She said out loud, wondering if repeating her thoughts would help her process exactly what was happening.

Diane put a hand on her shoulder. She looked like she was going to say something, but couldn’t quite get the right words yet.

“I don’t think any of us could.” Wren kicked her legs in the air from up in her bunk, “What if she…? What if Rosie…?”

There was a small silence in the cabin.

“Rosie will find her.” Mackenzie nodded once, “She’s really smart. She said it shouldn’t take too long.”

Hes wanted to say that “not too long” was half the summer. But she wanted to believe Rosie would bring Vanessa back soon, too.

“And you don’t really have to be our… stand-in counselor?” Emily fidgeted nervously, “Is that what Rosie said? Either way, we can all do that together. It isn’t just your responsibility.”

“I know.” Hes smiled, “I was going to suggest that. I think working together’s the best thing we can do. Until this sorts out.”

Diane muttered under her breath.

Wren reached up to adjust her hearing aids. “Did you say something?”

“I said we shouldn’t have to deal with this!” Diane stood up from the bunk, and walked to the center of the cabin as she spoke, “ _They’re_ the adults. _We’re_ the campers. Shouldn’t they have some kind of replacement if ‘these kinds of things happen sometimes?’ Or at least have us share with some other cabin? Or like, _anything_ besides Rosie giving Hes a shiny little badge like some kind of warrior cat?”

Hes blinked, processing everything Diane just said. “I never read those books.”

“Me neither!” Diane waved her hands in the air, “Which just goes to show how insane this entire situation is!”

“Yeah. You’re right.” Wren laid down on her bunk abruptly, with a short _thump_ , “But we can’t do anything about it. If we go back to talk to Rosie, she’ll just say the same thing. Take care of each other, we’ll get through this, friendship to the max, blah, blah, blah.”

“Then what do we do?” Emily had completely undone one of her braids during the conversation, and was desperately trying to put it back together again now. “Is there anything else we could try?”

Mackenzie frowned. “Vanessa’d know what to do.”

Hes took a deep breath in, and a deep breath out. “I know what to do.”

She stood up, and walked up next to Diane. “You’re right, this isn’t fair. At all. And I’m going to see if I can do any kind of reasoning with Rosie about that. But until then, this is our new summer-camp normal. And we’re going to stick together.”

Hes nodded over at Emily. “Em, you wake up early, right? One of us needs to be our cabin’s rep for those morning counselor meetings.”

Emily saluted, “Rodger that! I won’t let you down.”

“Great, because we’re counting on you to make sure we get the _least_ of the chores they hand out during those. Or try getting us the easiest.” Hes turned around, “’Kenzie! How do you feel about public speaking?”

Mackenzie tilted her head to the side. “I’m not against it.”

“Sweet. You’ll be the one to go through any announcements before breakfast with the counselors if we need to do that.” Hes looked up at where Wren was still laying, “Wren, can you handle handing out badges? We need someone to do that if any of us earns something outside other camp activities.”

“Eh.” Wren rolled back over to face everyone, “The least I could do is try.”

Hes felt a weight lift from her shoulders. Everything was falling into place. Life was starting to have some kind of sense to it again. “Okay. I’ll handle any miscellaneous leader-style things, including but not limited to dealing with the zany stuff in the woods, and communications with other cabins. And Diane- “

“I’m going with you to talk to Rosie.” By the tone of her voice, Diane had cut her off purposefully, “If you freeze up like you did last time, that’ll get us nowhere. We need a plan of attack.”

“Perfect.” Hes took another breath, “We’re going to keep things normal. We’re going to keep earning badges. We’ll go sing campfire songs with the other cabins that sign up for it. We’ll get back here and play some kind of… dumb getting to know each other activity every night before falling asleep.”

“We need to play truth or dare again.” Wren grinned like a Cheshire Cat, “We can even do the dares we couldn’t do when adults were around. Unless Emily’s still chicken.”

Wren promptly ducked as Emily threw a pillow up at her. “I’m not chicken! I would’ve kissed Hes if Vanessa didn’t call it off!”

Hes laughed. “Would you? Would you really?”

“Yes!” Emily crossed her arms, “I could kiss anyone in this cabin if I had to. It’s not that big a deal! It’s dumb anyway.”

“Woah, no need to get defensive.” Hes raised her hands, “Honestly, I wouldn’t have been offended if the answer was no.”

“It wasn’t even on the lips!” Wren covered her mouth with her hand, trying not to laugh too much, “You just short-circuited at the idea of something on the cheek.”

“Well,” Emily muttered, “If _you’re_ so brave, why don’t _you_?”

“Yeah, Wren!” Mackenzie shouted, “Why don’t you?”

Diane rolled her eyes. “If you’re all gonna be this immature about dares, I’m just going to choose truth every time.”

Wren was glad to change the topic. “Don’t worry, I’ve got better ones for you. Steal that flag Woolpit put in front of their cabin, open the window and sing any One Direction song as loud as you can, ooh, how about wear a silly outfit that we all make for the rest of the day?”

“Oh, that’s more like it.” Diane put her hands on her hips, “I could do all that in my sleep.”

“I’m _very_ excited to see you try.”

Hes smiled. Maybe they wouldn’t have to do a cheesy icebreaker each night if this was how things were going – everyone just kind of worked well together.

“Man, maybe not having adults will actually be _cool_.” Mackenzie rifled around one of the many bags she brought to camp, “You’re all okay with me bringing food back here from the mess hall, right? I’ve gotta carbo load, but the mess ladies always say I can’t do that. Bringing food back, I mean.”

“Go to town?” Hes shrugged, “As long as you don’t leave food out. That’ll attract raccoons.”

Wren laughed from her perch. “I don’t think a raccoon would go into a cabin. They’re wild animals. They don’t do that.”

“Oh no, some do.” Emily stared up at Wren, her eyes very serious, “Wild animals, I mean. Up at my aunt’s cabin a few years ago, a bear literally pounded on the door trying to get in. Everything shook, she almost had to scare it off by shooting some blanks.”

“Well, sorry about your uncle and all, but we’re different. The bears here don’t do that.” Wren waved a hand in the air, “What’s the worst we’ve seen? A couple of messed-up wolves howling in the night? Some plants nobody could identify? A few weird lights in the sky?”

“UFOs! Those were UFOs.” Emily practically jumped off the bunk she was sitting on to race over to her own, grabbing her backpack from underneath and unzipping it, “Definitely not the classic flying saucer type, but they were definitely triangles! Plenty of triangular sightings have been noted recently.”

“What was that thing about wolves again?” Diane asked, “I wasn’t there for that one.”

“Oh, yeah, it was at night.” Hes felt odd still standing in the middle of the room, but Diane had made no move to sit somewhere again, so she stayed, “You were still asleep. It was really loud.”

“There was something glowing out in the window!” Mackenzie added, before taking a bite out of a handful of Cheetos, “I saw it, and it was gone _so_ fast before anyone else could see.”

“Wait.” Emily slammed her UFO book shut, freezing in place, “Did any of you all hear that?”

Mackenzie tensed instantly. “They’re back. Oh my gosh they’re back. Do you think they can smell fear?”

Wren took a very slow look around the cabin. “…Yeah, I can’t hear anything. You sure you aren’t imagining things?”

“No, I’m sure of it.” Emily slipped her book back into the bag, “It was like… high-pitched. I think it was saying something? Sounded like a really loud scream. From far away.”

“Serial killer,” Mackenzie said to herself.

“These woods are really quiet,” Hes noted, “Sound would carry. But also, I think we’re all a little jumpy today. We shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Everything will be okay.”

The whole cabin tensed as a faint howl could be heard.

“How’s _that_ for conclusions?” Wren asked, “Even I could hear that!”

Everyone froze. The cabin was filled with an eerie silence.

“Ugh, everything’s going to be fine. At least, according to Hes it’ll be.” Diane paced over to the remaining empty bunk, “Here, let me teach you all something. Do any of you, like, still do sleepovers? Is that a real thing?”

Mackenzie scrunched up her eyebrows. “Sleepovers are real, yeah.”

“Great. We’re gonna have a sleepover.” Diane laid down on the bunk – Hes’ bunk, actually. “I used to do this all the time with my… other friends. It’s really normal.”

There was a pause.

“So… what’re we supposed to do?” Wren asked, sitting back up. “This is really vague.”

“You don’t…?” Diane rolled her eyes, “Okay, looks like none of you have been to a real sleepover.” She reached up to grab the pillow off her own bunk, “When you fall asleep, it’s a natural reaction to be scared, because there could be things out in the woods that’d kill you in your sleep. So you get all your huntresses- I mean, best friends, and you all fall asleep in a big pile so that you can protect each other just in case anything happens.”

“Aww, you’d cuddle with your friends?” Emily smiled, “That’s really cute!”

“It’s not cuddling.” Diane hugged the pillow she was holding, “It’s to keep each other warm and safe. It’s science.”

“Okay, cuddling or not-“ Hes walked over to sit next to Diane on her bunk, “It sounds like a pretty good idea. Everyone else cool with this?”

After Mackenzie’s shout of _YES_ and Wren & Emily’s nodding, all the Zodiacs were trying to figure out how to position everyone on Hes’ bunk.

Hes found herself next to Diane and Emily, with Mackenzie trying to hug all three of them at once. Wren was almost falling off the side of the bunk, but with some readjustment, they figured out how to make sure someone had their arm around her, for safety purposes.

Diane seemed very happy with this setup. She turned over a little, and abruptly grabbed Hes’ arm in the process, holding it close to her like a teddy bear.

Hes didn’t say anything. She wasn’t really used to being so close to other people, especially not an entire cabin’s worth at once. But Diane was right, she did feel safer this way. Mackenzie’s hug felt stable, warm. Emily was already asleep, and snoring just a bit. Wren was still secure, which meant they all were somehow able to fit an entire cabin on one bunk. Teamwork to the max?

Most of all, Diane, who had fallen asleep at this point, was holding her hand now.

Her back was going to be sore the next morning from sleeping at an odd angle. Her arm was already getting numb.

She wouldn’t have traded this for anything else in the world.

* * *

The only time Hes could manage to schedule a meeting with Rosie was when it was so dark that the stars above felt like they were out of a picture book.

The walk over there was cold, and it was even colder when she & Diane exited Rosie’s office. Even though she always wore her bulky hoodie, even on the hottest summer days, Hes wished that she put on another layer.

Diane wasn’t as lucky. She only had her usual jacket, and Hes felt like shorts weren’t a good choice, either.

The stars were just as bright as they both exited, with the only light source being the small crack from the door behind them, and the flashlight Hes was smart enough to remember.

“I’m sorry. Ugh.” Diane sat down, leaning back against Rosie’s cabin, “I was so stupid in there.”

“Hey.” Hes rested her hand on Diane’s shoulder, “You weren’t. You did great, actually.”

“But it wasn’t enough.” Diane rested her head in one of her hands, “I wanted to get some kind of explanation, or like, to let us in on the Vanessa search party plans, and what did she give us? Just a pat on the back and reduced cabin chores?”

“That’s still a win.” Hes took a breath in, “Like, a _really_ big win. We didn’t have that before.”

Diane was quiet. Hes gave her a pat. “Trust me. I’m so glad you went with me.”

Before Hes knew it, Diane was hugging her.

“Hey, Diane?” Hes said.

“Yeah?” Diane’s voice was quiet in a way Hes hadn’t heard before.

“Now probably isn’t the best time, but-“ She wiggled out of the hug a little to grab something out of her pocket, “Remember the time you made me that friendship bracelet? I felt bad that I never made one for you, so… here.”

Diane let go of the hug, and Hes tied the bracelet around her wrist. Blue-gray and fuchsia. When she was making it, she had to practically wrestle away the bright pinkish-purpleish string from the camper – weren’t they from Roanoke? – who was hogging it all. The way Diane’s eyes grew wide right now made it all worth it.

“You made this.” Diane readjusted it a bit, spinning it around a little, “For me.”

“Mmhm.” Hes glanced back up at Diane’s face, and gave her a concerned look. “Are you crying?”

Diane quickly wiped her face with her sleeve. “No. Thanks.”

“Okay. I’m glad you liked it.” Hes got up, and gave Diane a sympathetic look. “…You’re important to me. I wanted you to know that.”

Hes could just barely hear Diane’s reply. “ _You are, too._ ”

“So. Uh.” Hes shoved her hands into her hoodie pockets, trying her best not to stare at Diane’s for too long, no matter how bad she wanted to hold them, “We should head back. Let everyone know what’s up.”

“Right.” Diane stretched for a bit before standing up, “You still get the pin, though. You’re like, really serious about this thing. The Lumberjanes thing.”

“Well, that may be true,” Hes nudged Diane with her elbow, “But I think you’ve more serious about it than you think, too. Maybe not the entire Lumberjanes thing, but you’ve got the friendship part down.”

Diane scoffed. “You’ve got me there, Hes.”

She gave Hes a small smile, as she continued to shake her head. “You’ve got me there.”


End file.
